River Plate President Rodrigo D’Onofrio has revealed that he tried to “seduce” Barcelona’s Javier Mascherano into returning to the club.
Mascherano helped Barca defeat River 3-0 in Sunday’s Club World Cup final, and the patron made no secret of his desire to see the defender-cum-midfielder come back for a second spell as “you can’t retain players who have won everything”.
“There’s always a fool [on Lionel Messi being booed and insulted at Tokyo airport],” he told Fox Sports.
“Messi is a gentleman, he scored a goal and raised his hand accidentally.
“He told me he was close to joining River…
“I spoke with Mascherano and, of course, I tried to seduce him into returning.
“A winning cycle has come to an end, and I feel we need to strengthen the team.
“You can’t retain players who have won everything.”
